Ground Zero
by EatCrow
Summary: For a prompt on my Tumblr, submitted by Anonymous: Cliche but can I request flower shop owner Marinette with gang boi Jason? ... There's a flower shop right on the edge of Jason's territory that's essentially become an urban legend.-(Completed one-shot)


Based off of a prompt given to me on my Tumblr(eat0crow).

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**1) There's a flower shop right on the edge of Jason's territory that's essentially become an urban legend.**

No one is actually sure how exactly it's still standing, it borders two rival gangs, Red Robin's usual patrol route, and Jason's terf. There have been at least three gang wars raging on the same street, yet still Miraculous stands as the one neutral spot in _all of Gotham_. It's a cute shop, don't get Jason wrong, but the only miraculous thing about it is that no one has even _tried_ to claim it.

He brings it up once, the keyword once. Because the shop has stood as neutral ground for at least a century, and no one wants to be the one to break that streak. The shop is also cursed apparently, or at least protected by some malevolent force. The building lost a shingle _once_ in the '80s to a member of the False Facers, and the very next day saw Gotham PD hauling in at least two-thirds of the Black Mask's operation.

Which is probably exaggerated, _right_? None of the minor drug lords under Jason want to get into it. _The Black Mask_ doesn't want to get into it. (He clams up the moment Jason tells him the shop re-opened, apparently, it had closed a year after the shingle incident)

Miraculous, as well as the parking lot it sits on, is the ground zero of Gotham. No crime goes into the lot, no crime goes out. The pots are never tipped over, no one tries to steal even a _single_ rose from the display. No one touches the cute building, even if it's painted an obnoxious pastel pink that stands out like a sore thumb in the Gotham night. At least, as far as everyone knows—Jason is still kinda skeptical about that. Really, it's the perfect set up for a smuggling ring.

Tim is there sometimes as Red Robin. All the time really, at least twice a week. Jason has caught him more than once staked out with a pair of binoculars in the windows. A couple of times he even catches him helping the clerk repot plants. Which, yeah, Jason's met Tim a time or two, he doesn't make a habit of sticking around his family, but the kid never came off as the gardening type.

It's especially funny though, to see the pictures of Red Robin in a pink apron behind the counter trending on twitter.

He's tried to go in a handful of times, to offer the owner his protection and whatnot. But each time he tries he forgets what he's doing before he even turns the handle. Whoever runs this place must have the _best luck_ in the world because this shit has been happening since it was built.

You're a wayward gang member attempting to talk to the owner, you end up forgetting what you're doing mid-action, and only start to remember five days later. The building is damaged, so is whatever scheme you've been planning. Actually in the shop when you decide to talk business, nope, it's time for the most inconvenient phone call of your life.

"Why Dick, did you have to call me? I was _so close_."

"Jason, are you crying?"

"I finally made it into the door. I've been trying for months to get in. But no, your ass gets stuck in your suit, and suddenly it's time to call Jason. Nope, lose my number."

**2) Apparently everyone, including the fucking demon spawn, has been to Miraculous.**

They all get kind of quiet when he brings it up though, Alfred actually leaves the room. Jason may have issues with Bruce, and Dick, and Tim, and don't even get him started on Damian, but Alfred's always been the neutral party for them. He's always been the one they go to, no matter what. Upsetting Alfred is a capital offense. Jason feels...shitty about it.

"Alfred used to go, and get a bouquet there every weak after you died," Dick tells him, folding his hands together, and settling in. Tim looks uneasy, and far more awkward than usual—which is saying something. "He'd get some white lilies to put on your grave. I went with him a few times, but he hasn't been back since. I think the shop reminds him of it. When you were...you know."

"Oh." Jason really feels like an asshole.

"Yeah, I can't say I've been back either." Dick rubs the back of his neck like he's admitting to something secret. "It used to be on my patrol route, back when I was first Robin. It always used to creep me out so I'd avoid it."

"Really, Grayson," Damian says with the same air of condescending superiority he always has.

"Hey, back in those days it was an abandoned building. The one that the witch owned! I don't know about you, but I don't fuck with witches. No thank you! I like my limbs."

Jason might actually remember something like that, it's hard. Like all the memories from before are hard, but he thinks back to being a kid. To growing up in a scummy neighborhood, and hearing people talk about the witching house that no one was allowed near. The one spot Squatters and Junkies, no matter how desperate, wouldn't step foot in.

"It's not all that bad," Tim says. "My mom remembered when it was open the first time around. Mr. Fu was really nice, he used to let her play in the pots."

"That aside," Dick says fixing Jason with a half-crazed look. "It re-opened like a month after you died, so yeah, I went there with Alfred a lot. Like once a month a lot. The shop has this thing. You go in, and you're instantly wrapped up in this nostalgic warm-fuzzy-reliving-my-childhood feeling. It's weird."

Tim stares. "I think that's a you problem. I go in all the time, and yeah, the shop has a nice vibe, but it's more like a you're-safe-here thing."

"You're both, as usual, utterly wrong." Damian sniffs. "If anything, the shop feels like coming home."

The entire table turns to stare at him with wide unbelieving eye's. Jason can hardly believe his ears...did Damian _really_ just say something like that. The shocked look on even Dick's face goes a long way in saying just how much no one can believe something so well adjusted came out of the demon spawn's mouth.

Damian's blush is priceless, his stutter—yes it's a stutter no matter how much he denies it—is even better. "I mean to say. It feels familiar. The shop, you walk in, even for the first time, and you feel like you've walked through the door hundreds of times."

Which, huh, because. "I always thought it felt like a warning. You step one foot onto the lot, and it feels like the walls themselves are _daring_ you to start shit."

**3) Despite the hype that's built up around Jason going in, his first visit—No, Marinette that one didn't count I literally just turned the door handle—is really anticlimactic.**

It works like this, Roy asks him to pick up flowers, because Valentine's Day is today, and Kori will know what he's doing the second he tries to make up some lame excuse. Jason will never know how the man could ever be such a bad liar. As far as Kori knows, Jason is doing a typical supply run. Which, he is doing a supply run, even if the thought of cheesy romantic comedy cliches makes him sick.

All the same, Jason takes his role as _best bro_ seriously, even though he has doubts about being able to complete this task. If his previous 52 failures are anything to go by, Miraculous hates him. There are only so many times a man can get maimed before he comes to the conclusion that the building _itself_ has it out for him.

The hornets were what sold him. Not the bees, the _hornets_.

So with the air of a man who has just been sent out to war, Jason puts on this thickest jacket, his gloves, leaves his phone behind—even if attempt 34 taught him that was a _really_ stupid idea—and braces himself to step inside. Maybe it's because this is the first time Jason has gone into the flower shop for actual _flowers_. Maybe his luck is improving. Maybe...maybe the universe is setting him up for something even worse. Either way, it's the first time the hair on the back of his neck doesn't stand up the moment his foot hits the floor.

The girl at the counter is cute, just around his age with the bluest eyes he's ever seen. That says something, because Jason has met Superman. That man's eyes are _literally_ otherworldly. But Marinette's, Jason has a suspicion this is the Mari Tim is always talking about, her eyes look like they're glowing.

Jason realizes he's been standing in the doorway staring, _way too hard_, when Marinette, that's what her name tags says, clears her throat. With an air of confidence—Jason is a firm believer in the inherent power of bull shitting your way to success—he walks up to the counter.

"I'm looking for a bouquet," Her stare is piercing and Jason swears it burns all the way down to his soul. "For Valentine's day. One with roses, and all that shit."

Marinette huffs, and points to a depressingly empty display shelf. "You, and just about everyone else. Did you place an order?"

"Did I place an.." Jason trails off under his breath. "Please tell me you have something with the name Roy Harper in your registry."

Marinette takes a moment to glance down, to ruffle through her papers. "I'm sorry, I only have one left, and its got the last name Grayson on it."

Jason sees his life flash devastatingly fast across his eyes. It ends with him being torn to shreds by one of Roy's homemade bombs when he comes back empty-handed. There won't even be enough of him left to throw in a Lazarus pit. Nope, he'll be sidewalk chalk.

So really he feels no guilt in fleshing his most charming smile, the one that always makes the old ladies coo, and saying. "Perfect, I'm here to pick that one up."

Marinette takes one look at him draped over the counter, and bursts out laughing. Today is not a good day for Jason's ego. "I thought you were Roy Harper."

"No, I'm Dick Grayson." The words are bitter in his mouth. "But the bouquet is for my friend, and I wasn't sure what name he put it under."

"Oh," Marinette says, a smirk playing across her lips. "You think I was born yesterday. Sorry hon, but you're not an alternative pick up, and I'll need to see some ID."

"You expect me to show ID for flowers?... Really?"

"Yes, I expect you to show ID when you've given me two different names, and those flowers are worth over a hundred dollars," Marinette bites back. "Sorry, but that's been paid in full, and I'm not going to lose a customer."

"Okay," Jason says, taking two crisp bills out of his wallet. It hurts because Roy gave him a _twenty_, and Jason will always be a cheap bastard at heart. Nevertheless, he likes Kori, _she_ deserves this, even if Roy, who will be begging for mercy later, does not. He has to very consciously remove his hand after sliding them over. The urge to snatch them back is strong. "Listen, I really need that fucking bouquet. I am prepared to pay you double the price Grayson paid."

Marinette actually looks offended. "Just because everyone else in this city is okay with being bribed doesn't mean I am. You can keep your money."

"Everyone has a price." Jason gives her a _look_. "Name it."

"Well, I don't," Marinette snaps, reaching down for her phone. "You can take your money, and fuck off. Before I get Red Robin over here to flush you out."

"And here I was, thinking this was neutral territory."

"It is." Marinette stiffens. "This place isn't under Red Robin's protection, but he's still my friend. I won't hesitate to get him over here."

"How about this then. The bouquet for protection. I can get Red Hood to claim this place."

"What part of _neutral_ didn't you get?" Marinette asks, leaning over the counter and getting into his space. From here, just inches apart, her eyes are iridescent. Blue light toxically dripping out of a cracked glow stick. "Miraculous doesn't get involved in your shit. You all want to wage war on each other? You want to pedal drugs? You want to smuggle shit? That's cool, but you keep that away from my fucking shop. Miraculous doesn't get involved, you can all kill each other _outside_."

She's kind of terrifying up close. If Jason wasn't convinced she would disembowel him, he'd be tempted to kiss her. Consent, however, is sexy as fuck.

Jason knows when he's fighting a losing battle. "Is there any way. Anyway in hell, that I can get my hands on those fucking flowers?"

"Yeah," Marinette says sitting back down. "You can call Grayson, and have him give them to you. But aside from that, I've seen _a lot_ of shit. Sorry buddy, but you can't buy me or scare me into anything."

"I'll call the sorry bastard up right now."

"I'm not giving you his number."

"I don't need you to give me his number, I have it right…" Jason trails off, suddenly he remembers leaving his phone behind.

**4) Jason is a petty asshole who has learned that the secret to getting into the flower shop is to think flowers.**

Listen, Jason had to make do with drugstore flowers, and Roy's disappointed puppy eyes for a month after being kicked out on his ass. To add insult to injury, Tim tracked him down two days later, as he was _mid drug bust_, to tell him to stay away from Marinette.

Okay, it's not like he hadn't already been planning to go back, frankly, the shop is a strategic masterpiece. Half of its cred as an urban legend comes from the fact that whoever claimed it would be given an instant power-up. It's the _One Ring_ to rule them all. Jason _has_ to go back, and convince Marinette that the Red Hood is the one to ally with. He has to.

So yeah he's going to go back anyway, but now he really wants to. Because Tim, his replacement, dared him. Maybe a bigger person would back down, what with all the external forces building up around the shop, the legend, the neutrality, the _many_ failed attempts, Tim somehow having a vested interest…well, Jason has never been the bigger person.

Not by a long shot.

The first three times he attempts to return, Marinette meets him at the door. She's quick about flipping the sign from open to closed. Jason, the first time, had tried turning the handle, whatever magic makes that building hate him, makes it lock up the second the sign changes. It's not Marinette, Jason watched her. Her hands never touched the lock.

The first person he complains to is Roy, of course, who actually gives him the idea. Roy is a genius sometimes. So attempt four ends with him buying a single sunflower. It's gaudy as all hell, and also the first thing his hand touched after he spent an hour trying to get Marinette's attention.

She apparently will only talk to him in the brief thirty seconds she spends cashing him out. Which, yeah, that's fair.

And so it begins. Every day except Tuesday, the only day the shop is closed, Jason goes in, buys a single sunflower, and talks up the Red Hood.

Even if Miraculous never comes into his fold, this will all have been worth it just to have seen the look on Tim's face the first time he comes in just as Jason's buying his daily flower.

There's a small hole burned into his wallet, but Kori loves sunflowers.

Jason's not the only regular, but he's the most frequent, by the end of his fourth month he knows all the other regular's sob stories, and everyone _and their mother_ thinks he's sweet on Marinette. That may be the kind of true by this point. He's worn her down to where she will talk to him as he browses. Even if she also complains that, "It's pointless. I already have your sunflower set aside."

Month six marks a distinct turning point in their relationship. He was upgraded from General-Creep to Recurring-Menace to Okay-I-Guess-We're-Sorta-Friends-Now a while ago. Month six is the month he gains the title of Permanent-Fixture. It's marked by him walking in and Marinette forcing an apron on him.

"I told Red Robin when he started coming by, that if he was going to hang around than he needed a reason to. So if you want to hang in Miraculous you're going to work in Miraculous."

"Unpaid labor is illegal."

"No, it's not. It's just called volunteering."

**5) Getting together actually takes a while.**

Jason is relentless when it comes to his recruitment pitches, but he has _standards_ for fuck's sake. No woman actually enjoys it when men flirt with them on the clock. There's a whole power imbalance thing that makes him sick to his stomach.

Sure Marinette can take care of herself. She's a force of nature. Jason had offered to help carry potting soil for her once. _One time_. That was before he saw her lift the thirty pound bag over her shoulder like an empty sack of rice. Marinette can take care of herself, she just _won't_.

Jason has seen more than one scummy fuck harass her. She gets quiet….she loses her confidence, and it's just so wrong to see a person as strong as Marinette look small. He's not sure what about blatant flirting and bad pick up lines bothers her so much but—Marinette can never know, and they'll never tell her that the Red Hood tracked each one of them down. Threats are beautiful things. They just make it all come together.

He is a gentleman, even after he starts working with her. While co-workers flirting with each other isn't _as bad_, it's still kind of _awful_. The problem is that Marinette is always working, she never leaves Miraculous. Even on her off days.

So Jason, never finds the right time to ask her out himself. All the regulars already think they're dating. His brothers think they're dating. Alfred, _Alfred_ thinks they're dating after walking into the shop one time since Jason's resurrection. He's thankful his brothers gave him a heads up—_not_. Alfred walks in to find him behind the counter with a fluffy pink apron on, even his refined British manners are tested. Jason just knows he's laughing. He _knows_.

It happens like this, Jason teams up with Batman and Co. to help with a standard smuggling ring. Nothing difficult, the only reason it should have required all of them was because of the shipment size. It should have been easy. It _had_ been easy.

That is until the Joker shows up, Jason freezes, and takes a bullet straight to the stomach.

Stomachs bleed...a lot.

He doesn't remember much of what happened after that. Stomachs also hurt a lot, and it's hard to think coherently when you're in excruciating pain. Jason, blacked out shortly after Dick started putting pressure on the wound. For future reference, while stopping the bleeding _might_ be important, _it hurts like fucking hell_.

Marinette is the first thing he sees when he opens his eyes. She's hunched over herself in the plastic chair next to his bed. Someone, probably Dick or Alfred, draped a blanket over her. She looks vastly out of place, like the room itself is sucking the life out of her. The lighting makes her skin almost translucent.

The second thing he sees is the sunflowers covering every inch of the hospital room. There must have been a couple dozen, _at least_. It was probably closer to a hundred if not more. Despite the pain that comes with laughing, Jason can't help himself.

His laughter alerts the nurse, who alerts his family. Apparently, they've all been camping out in the waiting room. Much comfier couches there. His family wakes Marinette, who turns her piercingly otherworldly eyes on him.

Marinette stays quiet through all his family's fussing. She stays quiet even after that. All she does is stare. Jason doesn't think she's actually _seeing_ him.

"I didn't think I missed this many days," Jason jokes, gesturing to the multitude of flowers wrapped around every available surface.

"No, you didn't." Marinette's answer is curt. She's distracted, Jason _really_ wishes he knew what she was seeing.

"Not a fan of Hospitals?" Jason tries.

Marinette blinks. The cloudy look on her face disappearing as she shakes her head. "No, I really can't stand them."

"Me either." Jason feels an intense desire to continue the conversation, if only to keep Marinette from closing up again. "You know, you didn't have to visit me."

"I wanted to," Marinette says. "Your brother called, and told me what happened. I came by just after you were finishing up in surgery."

"What about the shop?"

Jason has been working at Miraculous—volunteering because Marinette still doesn't pay him—for months. He's invested in the place now.

"It can be closed for a few days," Marinette says, reaching over to take his hand. Jason lets her, he's always hated hospitals. It's gotten worse since he came back. The comfort is welcome. "This is more important."

Jason wants to say something, to take his shot, and ask her out. Because she's just as important to him, but it feels wrong so, he settles with, "You're a really good friend Marinette."

He does his best to ignore the way the words choke him.

"I think," Marinette starts, only to stop herself. There's a moment of internal debate before she continues, "I think we both know we're a little more than _just friends_."

**6) Jason never does claim Miraculous, it remains perfectly neutral, despite having the Bat-Family practically living out of the apartment upstairs.**

"Hey, do you think now that we're dating you can convince Tim to come by out of costume?"

Jason blanks. "What?"

"Tim, do you think you can get him to stop dropping by as Red Robin so much. People are starting to think Miraculous has been claimed as part of Batman's terf."

Jason does the most logical thing he can think of. He buries his face in his hands, and groans. "Why did you have to figure it out?"

"Was I…_not_ supposed to?"

"No, no you _weren't_. How did you?"

"Jason, there's only one person you hate as much as Tim, and that's Red Robin. I've seen how you look at both of them. No one makes your eyes scream murder as much as he does. _Not even Dick_."

"Oh God," Jason says wiping a hand across his face. "Does that mean—"

"That I know you're the Red Hood?" Marinette asks, cutting him off. "Hmm, I've known that for longer. Probably since you first started coming around consistently. At first, I thought you had like, the _biggest_ boner for the guy, but then you seemed really into me and well, you talked him up way _too much_ to either not have a crush on him or be him so, I connected the dots."


End file.
